The new radio voice of the Washington Capitals looks great in red, doesn't he?

I trace my passion for puck in Washington back to the 1970s, and Ron Weber’s radio calls of Caps’ games on WTOP. Radio men in hockey back then — most particularly in this region of the world — had a novel responsibility to be the eyes and ears for hockey fans unable to be inside the arena, as televised hockey outside of historic markets was virtually non-existent. In non-traditional markets these men were tasked with bringing alive an alien game for novice listenerships. Ron Weber’s enshrinement in hockey’s Hall of Fame is a powerful acknowledgment of his ability to do precisely that.

One of my most cherished recollections from winter nights in my youth was surreptitiously following Weber’s late-night calls from the West Coast while in bed, the audio on my clock radio low enough so as not to be detected by my parents when they poked a head in my bedroom to check on me. The rare Capitals’ victories out there made the fatigue at school the next morning oh so worthwhile.

Like pretty much every other novice puckhead in these parts, I’d transitioned to following hockey fairly exclusively on television by the middle 1980s as Home Team Sports emerged to help bring the game alive visually. My father by then had secured Capitals’ season tickets, and so while my appreciation for Weber’s work waned not a bit, my reliance upon him for game results diminished. Interesting note, though: Dad and I made a practice of being among the first in flight out of Capital Centre in order to get to the car and turn on Weber in time to catch his postgame recap, and most especially, on nights when the bounces went our guys’ way, to hear the iconic play-by-play voice announce, “It’s been a two-point night, Caps’ fans.”

More recently, the Capitals’ perpetual struggles with spring afforded me opportunities to follow on line and up in the Giant Center press box another distinctive and oh-so-impassioned play-by-play voice — that of the Hershey Bears’ John Walton. As the Capitals were transitioning from league doormat to contender, it was compelling for me to chronicle the development of young talent plucked from high in NHL entry drafts and apprenticing in Hershey. But quickly I realized that with Walton there was a future impact NHL talent as well; his was a perfectly pitched passion, idiosyncratically distinctive from Weber for sure but identical in his call’s ability to bring a game alive for a listener. He paints you a picture of the action with his narration. Just as importantly, he wears his hockey heart on his sleeve with his audio storytelling. The image I have of Walton’s work in Hershey was of him most often standing in his booth, his eyes glued on the action, his eyes, and his heart, telling you the night’s story. Hockey, I believe, is meant to be communicated with passion; no one is hockey knows this better than John Walton. In being engrossed with Walton’s calls I recognized a latent charm from my youth. His game calls for me were a variant on ‘That ’70s Show’ — except on radio.

A couple of times I was afforded run-ins with Walton while following the Bears on the road up in New England, and it was then that I first developed an appreciation for the breadth, and new age savviness, of his work. By about 30 minutes at the conclusion of road games Walton needed to have completed his postgame wrap-up on air, packed up an impressive hauling of broadcast gear, and be on the team bus for a swift departure for the next port of call. But seated on the team bus Walton’s work was renewed, not ended,while surrounding Bears players devoured pizzas, napped or engaged with various recreational electronica. Walton went to work filing game stories for the team web site, uploading audio calls for dissemination to his media list, and seizing the reins of social media well before it was in vogue to do so.

Then something far better than mere appreciation developed between us: friendship. It takes a special friend to maneuver me as John did for game 6 of the Calder Cup finals at Giant Center in 2010: credentialed to be down on the ice amid the euphoric champion Bears, my tiny camera capturing video and stills of Bears’ players in never-ending embraces with family. That night remains the highpoint highlight of my blogging experience.

In recent years John has shared with me his dream of calling games in the big league, and always I told my friend: your talent is too large, your passion too irresistible for it not to happen. It would just be a matter of time.

This week, perhaps as early as today, my friend behind the microphone — and every bit as adept seated before a laptop — will be announced as the next radio voice of the Washington Capitals. A miserably long and hot D.C. summer suddenly has delivered a soothing, pond-freezing sort of breeze.

Safe wager here: John Walton will be much, much more than a radio voice to the Capitals’ communications regime.

A good month and a half ago I shared with John a crossed-finger strategy for invigorating my hockey blogging pursuits. I told him that I was weary of the routine of the Verizon Center press box, the ritual of making seem meaningful nice regular seasons that always yielded to infuriating and at times inexplicable postseason sourness. I told my friend that if he got the callup to D.C. that I would spend the entirety of the 2011-12 hockey season at home, following his calls on the radio while silently watching the television broadcast, and thereby renewing my passion for the game in much the same way it was first ignited, three decades ago.

As summer yields to autumn my hockey heart needs still a fresh infusion of passion, and John Walton is precisely the right guy to make it happen.

“Leone wrote nearly 190 stories for publication during the 2010-11 season, including long-form enterprise stories about every six weeks on topics such as offseason training, retired Bears who have settled in the Hershey area, and Patrick McNeill’s recovery from shoulder surgery.  In addition to these stories in print, Leone also posted over 100 additional separate blog entries on pennlive.com such as breaking news and practice updates.

“At the beginning of the season, Tim was the sole author of a 16-page season preview special section. Through his online work with Pennlive.com, he hosted a weekly Bears Talk video, and was a regular first intermission guest on the Bears Radio network.

“In a year that saw the successful return of the AHL All-Star Classic to central Pennsylvania, Leone provided in-depth coverage for the event.  He also now has more than 1,400 followers on Twitter, among the most followed AHL journalists.  He has also authored two books in past seasons with strong AHL themes, “The Hershey Bears: Sweet Seasons” (2003) and “Gabby: Confessions of a Hockey Lifer” (2009).

“Leone becomes the first Patriot-News sportswriter to be honored with the Ellery since Steve Summers and Bruce Whitman were both honored by the AHL after the 1976-77 season. Other Hershey winners of the Ellery Award include Gregg Mace (Television, 2006), John Walton (Radio, 2004), Dave Sottile (2000, Newspaper), Dan Sernoffsky (1994, Newspaper), Russ Small (Radio, 1981) and Tim Melton (Television, 1978).

For its part, the AHL today said of Leone, “On the AHL beat in Hershey since 1995, Tim Leone continues to provide outstanding coverage for the Bears and the American Hockey League in the Harrisburg Patriot-News print edition while expanding his reach to on-line media. Leone wrote more than 180 stories for publication during the 2010-11 season, posted an additional 100-plus entries to his blog at PennLive.com, and provided his more than 1,500 Twitter followers with frequent breaking-news updates.”

And if the excellence of Leone’s work weren’t enough, he has also been uniquely accessible to, and supportive of, new media efforts to chronicle hockey in both Hershey and Washington. You don’t have to search long or hard to see his contributions across a wide range of Capitals’ and Bears’ digital content. This blog especially has benefited from Leone’s support.

Congratulations to one of hockey’s most dedicated and talented scribes.

Ghosts? How else would you explain consecutive playoff games against a weary foe in which pucks deflect off of Capitals’ rearguards and behind their netminder and into the cage, playing pivotal roles in consecutive upsets? And as our friend JP notes, those are only the two most recent such self-inflicted wounds this postseason. That sh*t just doesn’t seem to happen to the Wings, does it?

We love our hockey players, they are wonderful talents, they are to man exemplary civic figures in our community, and in just about every respect they make us proud to be fans. But they’ve an ultimate obligation in their profession — to get it done when it counts. To date, they’ve failed in that obligation. Given their accumulated postseason experience wearing our sweater, it is fair, beginning this spring, to hold them to a heightened accountability.

Ted Leonsis is right in suggesting that postseason prosperity involves, to a degree, having Lady Luck smiling on your side. And the Tampa Bay Lightning are a worthy adversary. But in year six of the Era of Ovechkin, with so many key roster ingredients in place, and with the sting of last spring still fresh, with Sidney and Geno and the Pens already golfing, this hockey club simply can’t author again yet another underwhelming showing in the NHL postseason.

The ramifications are enormous. Washington aches for a sports winner, yes, but Washington hockey specifically has a competitive mandate. Alexander Ovechkin was a lottery winning, and he knows what his role here is: to change our hockey culture. He’s done that just fine October through March. He’s had help along the way the last six years, and the reddening-out of our town — the conspicuous affection thousands of Washingtonians shower upon Ovi and his sport today is extraordinary — but it’s not enough. Nowhere near enough.

The durability of Mr. Leonsis’ business model requires a postseason breakthrough as well. Just take a look at all the upper deck empties at FedEx Field the past couple of seasons. There’s a social contract between a sports organization and its fans. Great dates ultimately have to lead to a kiss. Or we go find another girl.

This hockey club has the requisite skill and experience to rise to the challenge. What we don’t yet know is if it has adequate leadership. It’s a point that’s been debated with some robustness for more than a year now: Did the Caps get it right in stitching the ‘C’ to Ovi’s sweater? Failure this week in Tampa will bring fresh and heated scrutiny to that question. 2010-11 has not been a year to remember for our captain; its premature conclusion would intensify the evidence against his leadership. And the late-season arrival of Jason Arnott only adds fuel to that fire.

This is a postseason tailor-made for Ovi to ascend, but to date, we don’t have that breakthrough performance suggestive that he’s ready to seize that moment and lead his club. Tonight is one such opportunity.

Behind the bench, there is the obvious subplot related to Bruce Boudreau. All seemed reasonably well for Gabby a week ago, but when his club was gifted a lengthy break with which to rest and repair, they came out of it unable to meet the underdog’s challenge. That story is growing old here. Boudreau’s beaten an under-manned John Tortorella set of Ranger clubs twice in the postseason over the course of four springs . . . and no one else. Losing to the rookie, Guy Boucher? At some point (potentially soon) Capitals’ fans are going to ask: where is our Bylsma, our Tortorella, our Babcock, our . . . Boucher?

The team’s power play futility is a flashpoint in this discussion of tactical leadership. Its cumulative results last postseason and this are beyond nightmarish and nauseating: four for sixty. That’s four goals . . . in 60 opportunities. Tampa would bank in 9 or 10 off our dmen with 60 extra man opportunities. The power play personnel is a mish-mash of a mess, their attack ethos uncertain. Confusion and hesitancy reign supreme. The team had all of last week to work on it and get it fixed. Instead, it’s regressed. The head coach has to get it fixed, pronto. The Capitals will either achieve a competent power play this series or they will lose it. Tampa took out the Pens by achieving a glaring special teams discrepancy.

We also don’t know if in Nicklas Backstrom the Capitals have an elite talent centering the no. 1 line who can get it done when it counts. Great in games one through four versus Montreal last April then AWOL thereafter. Through seven games this postseason Backstrom has tallied merely two assists and is skating a -1. He looks anything but elite and dynamic. His scoring drought adversely impacts the team in both 5-on-5 play and power play production. His linemate Ovechkin seemingly senses the slump his center is experiencing, because he’s carrying the puck an awful lot in transition and attempting to make plays by himself. The result is a highly individualized attack by the first unit, which plays perfectly into Tampa’s trap. It’s gotten so bad with Nick that Boudreau bumped up the rookie Johansson to no.1 pivot duties. That’s no recipe for durable contention this spring. No contending team can have its no. 1 pivot merely along for the ride.

Along with my blogger buddies Ed Frankovic and Ted Starkey I was seated in Giant Center late last spring when the Hershey Bears dropped the first two games of the Calder Cup finals to the Texas Stars. The next three games were in Austin, and all looked bleak for the Bears against the Texas trap. Even in game 3 the Bears fell behind 3-1 after 20 minutes. But that Bears team had a warrior leader in Bryan Helmer, among others, and they banded together behind their coach who preached patience with the puck. Michal Neuvirth was in net for the entirety of that series, incidentally, and a fair number of those Calder winning Bears of course are wearing red this spring.

Late Sunday night, addressing the media, Alexander Ovechkin said that his team was traveling to Florida on Monday on a mission to win two hockey games. They really need to. The Capitals this spring need to find their Bryan Helmer. Here’s hoping he’s Russian.

The easiest argument for Holtby’s demotion is the team has two goalies it needs to get ready for the postseason. That said, however, who says Holtby couldn’t be the guy to play in the postseason? As it stands now, Holtby has looked like the best goalie in the organization, and, on top of that, he has the numbers to back it up. Perhaps the most overlooked and best part about his performance this year is he has gotten better in almost every single start.

Think for a minute: we saw the best of Michal Neuvirth at the beginning of the season when he was thrust into the starting role with almost no warning. Since then, he hasn’t looked the same and has not posted those same numbers. Meanwhile, Semyon Varlamov had his solid stretch around the Winter Classic when he looked like the impenetrable wall we saw in the playoffs just a few years ago. Other than those games, though, Varly hasn’t stayed on the ice and his team has a big question mark hovering over their goalie stability now. Holtby, on the other hand, has come up and posted solid outings every time he has been called upon, sometimes with very little warning that he will be starting. With the exception of a few stinkers, Holtby has been dominate in the crease and has not had an extended period of time where he hasn’t been good. I don’t think we can honestly say we have seen the very best Braden Holtby yet.

Obviously Holtby hasn’t had the luxury to prove himself in a long-term stint, but he still has looked healthy and ready to start at the drop of a pin, which is more than you can say for Varly. The young Russian looked like the guy for the next decade just a few years ago and now he looks like he might not be on the team next year — all of this because of his injuries, which are coincidentally the biggest reason the Caps need to keep Holtby in Washington.

Neuvy is a fine number one, and, in my opinion, the guy who needs to start in just a few weeks. But what if he gets hurt, doesn’t look the same or falls ill? Then the team has to turn to Varly who hasn’t been able to stay healthy all season. And what if he aggravates his groin? Personally, Varly looks like a liability at this point. Is he really ready to play if needed when the Caps can’t even play him back-to-back games against Ottawa and Montreal? This team should be in tuneup time and not still finding out what they have on their roster.

Washington knows more than anyone that a hot goalie can steal a series and a bad one can cost a city a promising playoff run. Obviously we cannot predict the future, but once the first round rolls around would you be more comfortable with Holtby and Neuvy, two young and healthy guys ready to start at any moments notice, or Varly and Neuvy, two young guys one of whom has been on and off the injured reserve for the last two seasons? I think it is a clear answer.

Some may think I am being unfair to Varly, which I may be, but when it comes to the playoffs, the absolute best needs to be on the team because this same team will most likely not play together again. While some in the organization don’t believe it is “Stanley Cup or Bust,” the truth is they are. Sure, they may not bust many players if they lose early, but some may choose not to return to Washington and retire, like Arnott, some guys may move on, like Schultz, and others just might not make it back to the team.

Truth is, every team is “Stanley Cup or Bust” or they wouldn’t be playing. As a result, the front office has to give this team the best possible goalie tandem to win with. Varly may have been the guy in the past, but from what we have seen this year, it is hard not see the past fading away and see the future of Braden Holtby shining through — a future that should start now.

Playing goalie can be tough on the body and even tougher on the mind. Holtby attempts to counter that with a psychological tool known as visualization. Visualization is when a player sees himself performing on ice and visualizes what it will take to succeed and win in the net. It is a powerful tool to build confidence, focus and calm the nerves heading into game. Golfers do it when they look where they want their shot to go and see it going there before they hit the ball; basketball players do it before free throws, when they see the ball go into the net.

In Holtby’s case, it adds another level to his game, building on his physical attributes and his overall play. Just from looking at his body of work and seeing him between the pipes, it is clear he has the “stuff” to make it as a netminder in the NHL.

Photo by Tim Stough, Inside Hockey

But does he have the mental ability? How many times have we seen goalies who struggled with the “yips” when they make it to the NHL?

We saw it not that long ago with Justin Pogge of the Toronto Maple Leafs. In a 2009 National Post Article, Leafs GM Brian Burke described what makes up a good goalie in the NHL:

“There are four sides to the box that makes up a starting goaltender in the [NHL]. The first three sides are size, athletic ability and competitive spirit … The fourth side dictates whether you can be a starter and that’s mental. Can you handle the pressure? Can you carry a team on your back? Can you not allow a soft goal in the third period? That’s where most goalies fail.”

Pogge inevitably failed, and suddenly a promising netminder was not heard from again. What Holtby has going for him is that he already knows how to conquer that hurdle and how to make sure he has the fourth side. While he may not see it, Holtby’s ability to reel in his emotions and control his mental game allows him to build on his best hockey skill, his puck handling.

Bruce Boudreau has praised it, the media has asked about it, and fans have held the breath when it happens — “it” is, of course, Holtby’s ability to handle the puck out of the net. While Boudreau has said Holtby gets a bit too “cocky” with his puck handling — and I have nearly spit my soda three seats out of the press box when he fails at it — his stick handling gives him an “x-factor” that many goalies do not have. When a goalie leaves the net to handle the puck they are essentially playing roulette, and sometimes they lose. In my opinion, it is his mental stability that allows him to surpass that hurdle and move on when he does turn the puck over or play it incorrectly. His mental stability is his best asset in that situation, allowing him to control his emotions and move on. Goalies need a short memory and it seems as if Holtby has been able to develop one.

While the mental side of Holtby’s game has truly helped him succeed during his time with the Caps this season, it is also where he has the greatest room for improvement, something he has acknowledged. During a conference call on Monday, Holtby talked about how he has tried to work his mental game even more. In the past, Holtby said if he missed anything in his pre-game ritual, it would psych him out: “One of the things I struggled with for a while [was] if I didn’t do something right it would effect me [in the game].” He followed up by saying he now wanted to try to just go through his warmup with ease and be more relaxed.

We all saw how his revised mental game made him even better in Sunday’s game against Chicago. The game was far from Holtby’s best peformance, but he was still able to make several key stops, including a one-on-one right in front of the cage late in the third period. In the past we have seen some soft goals given up by Holtby in pressure situations when he struggles, but not Sunday. He gave his team a chance to win and being able to pull that off when you are not at your best is a tough mental challenge.

Winning when not at his best is what sets this Holtby call up above his last one over a month ago. Though I give him a lot of grief over it, Adam Vingan of Kings of Leonsis was right when he said Holtby didn’t look NHL-ready after a shootout loss against the New York Rangers in January. It was clear he put a lot of pressure on himself, and it seemed to buckle underneath it, as the Rangers deked him out with moves he stopped earlier in the game. His mental game was clearly not there.

That all changed against Tampa Bay at the beginning of March though. The Caps went to a shootout, and it’s fair to say a large part of Washington braced itself, remembering what had happened approximately a month earlier with the Rangers. Instead of folding under the pressure, Holtby looked confident and won. It was at that point he looked ready for NHL responsibility.

As it stands right now, Holtby looks like the true goalie of the future. To harken back to Burke, Holtby has the four pillars of a goalie. He has the size, athletic ability, he is extremely competitive and he seems to have his mental game in check. If anyone was questioning whether he can cut it in the NHL, they just need to take a look at his body of work from last week to change their mind. Holtby was named the First Star of the NHL for that week’s performance, but more importantly, he may have established himself as the No. 1 goalie of the future for Washington. It may not be this year, it may not even be next year, but I bet you Holtby will be the guy. You can hold me to it.

When that game-ending horn sounds early Sunday evening back at Giant Center, what do you imagine the line will be like of Bears’ skaters awaiting submersion in training room whirlpools? And how about Walton’s voice come next Sunday? I’m guessing the Bears might take next Monday off.

This grind, all of it of course by bus, makes Dmitri Orlov’s commitment to beginning his North American pro hockey career late this winter all the more impressive, no? One wonders if General Manager Doug Yingst didn’t in fact hide the team’s March itinerary from the prospect and his agent during their discussions last month.

Walton told me he couldn’t recall such a slate in all his years in the ‘A.’ Neither could Patriot News Bears’ beat reporter Tim Leone, who’s been covering the league for more than 15 years. Three-game weekends are the norm; occasionally there’ll be four-in-five. But seven in nine? Guys who work in the American League understandably roll their eyes when the word ‘fatigue’ is uttered in association with the NHL’s two games in two nights slate.

More fun with labor on the junior circuit: The Bears have utilized seven goalies thus far on the ’10-11 campaign. Actually dressed eight. They started the season with Braden Holtby and Dany Sabourin, and because of injuries they’ve gone through three of the backstops from the Caps’ ECHL affiliate, the Stingrays (Todd Ford, Shane Owen, Jared DeMichiel). Sabourin’s been on the shelf since early February with a knee injury that required surgery. Semyon Varlamov did a conditioning stint up there. Nolan Schaeffer arrived on loan from Providence just this past weekend.

Things got real interesting the Saturday before last, when Varlamov went down in D.C. and both Holtby and Sabourin were sidelined. The Caps signed and recalled Ford for their game on Long Island. Hershey, which like Washington had a game that night, was left with a single fit goalie at 1:30 Saturday afternoon, facing a 7:00 faceoff. They tapped Bobby Jarosz, securing him on an ATO contract. Jarosz earlier this season was in net in the Central Hockey League for the Arizona Sundogs. The Bears knew him from his stint in Reading with the ECHL Royals.

And had Jarosz been unavailable? According to the Bears, they’d have been forced to ATO a netminder from HPA tenant Lebanon Valley College.

The funniest part about Saturday, February 26, and we can say this since both the Bears and Caps won that night: had Brett Leonhardt still been with the Capitals organization it would have been highly likely that he’d have been summoned to dress as backup for the Bears that night. And you just know Leonhardt Bears sweaters would have been purchased in bulk the following week.

There are old school discomforts with skates like this past Friday’s — Bears’ players, for instance, must carry off all preparations for practice at Giant Center, hop in their cars already geared up, and drive over to the old barn. But there’s something old school endearing about the sight of contemporary pro hockey players moving about a park in theirs pads and practice sweaters, largely emptied gear bags slung over their shoulders, sticks in hand.

One of HPA’s many charms is the accessibility Hershey hockey fans have to Bears’ players after practice. Fans coming into the arena to get their skates sharpened share arena hallways with the pros. In the primary entrance to the arena fans can and do wait with sweaters and photos for player signatures, and can walk alongside the pros as they make their way from the dressing room out to their cars. One fan on Friday brought along one of Mathieu Perreault’s Caps’ sweaters for signing, and if I heard correctly, claimed it came from the game in which Matty broke his nose. Of course the young center signed and posed for pictures with the fan.

This hockey landmark, lamentably, is unfit to host high-level hockey in the present. It can’t really host much of anything that might draw a big crowd. The building’s simply not to today’s fire and safety codes. The Bears can practice at HPA, they can devote some days of fall training camp there, but there are no more full-scale athletic events held there. Lebanon Valley College still plays its home games there, however. But every hockey fan I think ought to make at least one pilgrimage up to HPA for a Bears’ skate, or a Sunday afternoon public skating session in fall and winter, and behold the vantages of this mecca’s super steeply pitched seats — every seat in this home for hockey is situated right on top of the action.

Old wood benches are occasionally used by today's Bears' players to dull a bit of a skate's edge judged a bit too sharp

I'm sure most high school locker rooms in central Pennsylvania offer more amenities and comforts than does the home team's in HPA. But when I observed Bears' players lacing up their skates Friday there was nothing but smiles and the usual pre-practice banter enveloping this primitive dressing room.

Practice drills and rituals are no different in HPA than at Giant Center. But the spectator feels time-capsuled back into another era altogether.

Mathieu Perreault was all obliging for a fan who arrived at practice bearing one of his Capitals' sweaters.

After practice Friday Bears' radio voice John Walton gave Ben Raby and me a personalized tour of HPA, including this stop at the oh so primitive broadcast booth used by visiting teams' announcers years ago. Before Walton's work in Hershey, he also called games for the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks of the AHL. "I think we won three of eighteen games here," he told me Friday. To enter and exit this remarkable broadcast pen, announcers literally had to step onto armrests of adjoining seats. "But you had the best view in the AHL here," Walton noted.

Orlov, 19, collected two assists in his first two games with the Hershey Bears (AHL) this season after signing an amateur tryout contract with Hershey on February 20. Prior to his stint in Hershey, Orlov appeared in 45 games with the Novokuznetsk Metallurg (KHL) this season, registering 12 points (two goals, 10 assists) and 43 penalty minutes.

Orlov, a 5’11, 202-pound defenseman, was Washington’s second-round selection, 55th overall in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. He helped lead Team Russia to a gold medal at the 2011 World Junior Championships in Buffalo, recording nine points (one goal, eight assists) in seven games and was named to the tournament All-Star team.

With Kugryshev’s help, we asked Orlov about the adjustment he’s confronting coming over to North America well into the hockey season. And he answered us directly about his thoughts on how the AHL stacks up against the KHL. Kugryshev played his junior hockey in Quebec, and so his transition to North America was perhaps a bit less formidable. The two young Russians are living together in Hershey, which helps, and are voracious consumers of the NHL Network. And we also asked Kugryshev to own up to a moment of conspicuous bravado on Facebook in the immediate aftermath of the Russian World Junior team’s gold medal triumph over Canada back in January.